U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider gently dispensed his admonishments yesterday when Dr. Tariq Mahmood, who faces 15 counts of Medicare fraud, suddenly sought approval to fire his lawyer, scrap last week’s guilty-plea deal, and obtain yet another extension so he could proceed to trial.

Schneider, the son of an East Texas Methodist minister, has had plenty of practice after a decade on the federal bench and as a former Texas Supreme Court justice.

But the judge for the Eastern District of Texas makes it clear that he doesn’t abide anyone pushing the envelope — whether it involves edgy legal maneuvering or sloppy threads.

He has had a little chaos to confront in his courtroom lately, as described in today’s story. As of last Thursday, it appeared that the fraud case against the former Texas hospital chain owner was wrapped up. Mahmood’s Houston lawyer Dan Cogdell cut a deal with prosecutors for him to admit to conspiring to commit health-care fraud. Then less than 24 hours after the plea-agreement notice was filed, Mahmood entered another motion to replace Cogdell and seek at least his third trial postponement so he could take his case to a jury.

In a Monday hearing in Tyler to review the Dallas businessman’s request, Schneider only once came close to appearing rattled when he softly blurted, “This really, completely upsets everything.” A 90-day extension was “out of the question,” he told Mahmood before settling on a roughly 60-day postponement.

The judge also cautioned prosecutors to re-read federal ethics rules governing contacts with the media after their spokeswoman told me last week that Mahmood’s last-ditch effort to unravel the plea deal was a “stunt.”

Toward the end of the hearing, Schneider even referenced his own demeanor in light of the recent events. He didn’t want to be misunderstood.

“Don’t take my easy going attitude as lax,” he warned.

This reporter didn’t. Courthouse staffers stopped me before I entered the hearing to say that the judge demands every man wear a tie ( “dress with dignity” his court website says ). He also doesn’t permit gum chewing, they said. A bailiff then swiftly brandished a stained tie from the witness room, and I wrapped it around my neck. As for the gum, well, I didn’t chew.

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